COMMUNITIES. AT HOME IN WILLOW SPRINGS.

Santa Fe Speedway is silent, but the crowd still roars on...

July 07, 1998|By Helen J. Anderson. Special to the Tribune.

Santa Fe Speedway is silent, but the crowd still roars on the outskirts of Willow Springs.

Built in unincorporated Cook County in the mid-'50s, the speedway provided entertainment for racing aficionados until it closed more than four decades later. Now developers are eyeing about 500 acres of unincorporated land, including Santa Fe's old oval track. Beer-and-brat Willow Springs and champagne-and-caviar Burr Ridge are suitors for the territory.

While many residents savor Willow Springs' small-town atmosphere, some favor land annexation in the hope of broadening the tax base.

"Our village board has taken a proactive position regarding economic development," said Village Administrator Richard B. Saks. "The board will do what it can to broaden the tax base while doing the right thing for the community by preserving the character of the village." To this end, village officials have retained Evanston- based Teska Associates to create a long-term development plan for the area.

There are 1,850 housing units, Saks said, 1,500 of them single-family dwellings ranging in price from just over $100,000 to $500,000. Town homes, condominiums and apartments account for the remainder.

In addition to recreational activities provided by the forest preserves, there are several municipal parks, but no library, nor is there a library-use agreement with other suburbs.

Ashland Chemical and Valvoline are the town's biggest industries. Archer Avenue, the only commercial street, is trimmed with a variety of retailers, including a florist, an antiques dealer, a billiards parlor, a deli, restaurants and bars.

A river, railroad lines and man-made canals make Willow Springs an east side/west side kind of town. The Des Plaines River runs through it; so does the Illinois Central Railroad, the Santa Fe Railway, the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal.

Still, the single necessary mode of transportation is the automobile. There is a Metra/Heritage Corridor commuter train station, but service to and from Chicago's Union Station is limited.

The promise of work on the railroads and canals brought 19th Century laborers to this area, originally settled by farmers at the end of the Black Hawk War. Incorporated in 1892, Willow Springs grew slowly. In the mid-'30s the Cook County Forest Preserve District began its acquisition of 1,400 acres of wooded, slough-studded land to the south, effectively sealing off expansion in that direction.

Even after World War II, when Chicago's burgeoning population pushed out to the suburbs, Willow Springs remained a country kind of town. As late as 1960, one farmer's widow let city folks bring kids to fish in "the Little Pond" on her German Church Road property for a modest 25 cents per car.

But despite its rural flavor, the town also had a reputation as a party place. Proper folks drank and danced to Big Band swing at the Oh Henry Ballroom.

Others rode in on Archer Avenue streetcars during Prohibition to hang out in local pool halls and roadhouses.